The old saying is, War Is Hell. That is a fact and it can’t be disputed, but war is also necessary part of human life. We often think that war is evil, but it can also lead to good. People fight for their freedom, they fight to protect the innocent, they fight to keep the oppressors at bay. For decades it has become depicted in movies, TV, novels, and nowadays video games, but I feel it’s best portrayed in comics.

Sure we all have the images of the opening of Saving Private Ryan embedded in our brain, but with still pictures or artwork we can come back to it again and again. The anguish and blood staring us right back in our face. The silent bullets on the page suddenly make a horrific noise that only we can create. Comic fanboys have read Sgt. Rock or The Howling Commandos which are realistic in many ways, but there was a time when a comic mag got down right truthful. I’m speaking of Blazing Combat #1-4 (1965-66, Warren) and recently Fantagraphics collected the run in both hardcover and softcover.

Blazing Combat was an anthology comic that showed the very dark and very real side of war. A loose followup to the EC Comics War genre books, it showed US G. I.’s dying in terrible ways, commanders giving orders with little regard for consequences and the militaristic definition of collateral damage. Jim Warren let it all hangout when it came to editing Archie Goodwin’s writing, who worked on every single story except for three. Of course Goodwin is a genius and I’m usually more of a word-man when it comes to comics, but this time it’s the art that captured my attention. It’s a who’s-who of monster talent including Alex Toth, Wally Wood, Gray Morrow, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, Angelo Torres, Gene Colon, George Evens, John Severin, and Russ Heath. It’s the Live-Aid of Pencilers! Need I say more?

You could say that Blazing Combat was ahead of its time or that it came out at the right time. Big Brother Washington did take notice by issue #2 and it was all shut down with #4 and some even labeled it anti-war propaganda. There my be some truth to that because there was so much opposition to Vietnam at the time. Jim Warren and Archie Goodwin hints at this in two separate interviews conducted by Michael Cantron. Also included are all four, full color covers and other selected artwork and photographs.

Today is 9/11 and we should never forget – any war – and with works like this, thankfully, we never will.

Blazing Combat HC
Written by Archie Goodwin and others
Art by Various
Introductions and notes by Michael Cantron
208 pages, $28.99, 2009, Fantagraphic Books
Collects Bazing Combat #1-4 (1965-66, Warren Publishing)
2010 Eisner Award Nominee: Best Archival Collection — Comic Books

Recommended reading:
EC Archives – Frontline Combat Volume 1
EC Archives – Two-Fisted Tales Volumes 1-2
Fight The Enemy #1-3 (1966-67, Tower Comics)

Ever since Comic Con in late July and thanks to Fantagraphics and IDW, there has been lots of talk of the EC line of comics. The talk heated up even more this week with the announcement of GC Press’ revival of the EC Archives started by Gemstone. Today on the show I straighten all out as to who is doing what. All projects are vastly different with much of the same material.

Also on the show I call out Marvel as it pertains to their most recent solicitations. There were blatant mistakes and I find it aggravating, amateurish and a bit humorous.

Finally there is news about Batman: Earth One, The Harvey Awards, a wonderful blog from The Comics Journal and Shipping and Product changes for Fantastic Four Omnibus by John Byrne Volume 1 you do not want to miss!

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I’ve been meaning to have Blake Bell on the podcast ever since I did my Steve Ditko retrospective in February, 2010. You can consider this, Part 5, if you would like, but we also talk about another icon – Bill Everett, who created Namor, The Sub-Maniner and co-created Daredevil.

It’s a candid discussion on what made the 1950′s such a special time for comic books and the toll it sometimes took. Blake talks about their lives and the fast paced industry that kicked off the Marvel (Silver) Age of comics. We also discuss Blake’s other works including the 2011 Eisner nominated (Best Comics-Related Book) Fire and Water: Bill Everett, the Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics, I Have To Live With This Guy! (TwoMorrows Publishing), Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko, The Steve Ditko Archives series and the upcoming Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives Volume 1.

I want to sincerely thank Blake, and Fantagraphics,  for coming on the podcast!

Wouldn’t you know that I go record my six year anniversary podcast and it turns out that I get a bad sore throat. Not to worry, it’s a quick show today as I go over some collected edition news from IDW, DC, Marvel, Fantagraphics, Flesk, Boom, and Dark Horse (and even more) that has caught my eye and is worth commenting on.

I want to thank everyone who has come by this blog and downloaded a podcast from the past six years. It truly means a lot to me and your support keeps me going from week to week.

If you are gong to C2E2, please let me know, I’d be happy to meet with you.

Chris

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The set will have the following:

• Two hardcover volumes per year (or roughly six months apart from each volume printed).
• $25.00 and 240 pages each (200 are the comics and 40 are the extra material).
• The first book release, Lost In The Andes, will collect the year 1948  (Fall 2011) and will be the 7th Volume. The second book, Only A Poor Old Man will cover 1952-54. Fantagraphics stated they want to start off with the best material and then go back and finish the series at a later time.
• The books will all be designed by Jacob Covey who has worked on Popeye, Dennis The Menace and Krazy Kat.
• The books will be slightly smaller then the standard comic book size.
• Every page will be be recolored, under the direction of Rich Tommaso, who is using the original comics as the color guide. You may recall Rich from his bestseller,  Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow (Hyperion Books, 2007).

There have been a couple of Disney reprint projects announced from Fantagraphics in recent months in including, Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse, which will also be out in 2011.

You also may recall that a similar undertaking of Carl Barks was announced by Gemstone three years ago. I blogged about the details in a post from March 23, 2008:

Also due out later this year is the first set (of 10) of the Complete Carl Barks Collection (Gemstone). Topping out at 960 pages and a cover price of $150, this set promises to deliver! ‘Remastered in more exceptional quality and color than earlier editions, the great tales of Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge McDuck, Gladstone Gander, and Gyro Gearloose are accompanied by a vast selection of archival rarities and fascinating new editorials by lifetime Barks scholar Geoffrey Blum. This initial boxed set includes Barks’ very first 1940s adventures, including “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold,” “The Mummy’s Ring,” and “Pluto Saves the Ship!”’ This is due November 2008. Also, from Gemstone is the The Don Rosa Library Volume 1: 1987-1988 (December 2008, 208 pages $40). Restored, recolored, and furnished with numerous editorial features, here’s the first in a cracking, wakking Gemstone multi-volume series!

As you now know that never came to fruition and Boom! Studios scooped up the rights to Don Rosa.

All is now good in the land of the Mouse (and Duck).

Sometimes when it rains it pours! Thhis week we’ve had a plethora of news come down from a number of companies. I covered a few items on my post this past Saturday, but since then and even through this morning more and more great collected editions have been announced:

• DC Comics for May and June. Expect July and August items as well as Vertigo title to be posted in the next day or two. Including the Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and New Teen Titans Omnibus’
• Brenda Starr from Hermes Press
• The mega 3-Volume Alex Toth slipcase from IDW and Library of American Comics. Also coming out is info on the Fish Police Volume 1, collecting #1-4 and True Blood Volume 1, collecting #1-6
• Fantagraphics To Publish Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse
• Rosebud Archives and Rick Marschall will publish Percy Crosy’s Skippy vs. The Mob: The Fight for Vesey Street and the American Soul Volume 1

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

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It’s nothing big but it caught my eye nonetheless. Both Fantagraphics and IDW are publishing retrospectives on the work of Alex Toth.

November 2010 (moved from October 2010)
IDW Publishing - Genius, Isolated: The Life And Art Of Alex Toth by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell, $49.99

January 2011 (moved from October 2010)
Fantagraphics - Setting the Standard: Alex Toth at Standard Comics 1952-1954 by Greg Sadowski, $29.99

Reading the official solicitaions I gather the the IDW book will be more of an art book and the Alex Toth at Standard Comics book looks to be more like the Steve Ditko Archives (Fantagraphics). I’m a big fan of the late, great Toth and any chance to see his work is OK in my book.

But here’s the intestesting part, this is the second time that IDW and Fantagraphics published a retospective on the same person. You may recall that Steve Ditko was chosen to be the subject not too long ago.

July 2008
Fantagraphics - Strange & Stranger World Of Steve Ditko HC by Blake Bell, $33.99

December 2009
IDW Publishing - The Art Of Steve Ditko HC by Craig Yoe, $29.99

Of course it’s not uncommon that companies publish similar books, but both Ditko and Toth are two of my favorites so I thought it’s worth mentioning.

I wonder who will be next? Larry Lieber?

I’m excited to move out of 2009 and in to 2010 and what a better way to kick it off then an interview with a true journeyman, Kim Thompson the Vice President and Publisher of Fantagraphics Books. Kim has been in the industry for over 30 years specializing in alternative and independent comics. Kim has also championed the cause of European translations, which we discuss in-depth today. We also talk about Fantagraphics commitment to classic comic strip reprints like Peanuts, Price Valiant, Dennis The Menace and Pogo. For even more on Kim Thompson, be sure to visit his Blog page.

Also on the show I congratutalte Greg S. from Ogden, Utah on winning the 6th Annual NCAA Football Bowl Contest. Greg has chosen Showcase Presents: Warlord Volume 1 as his prize.

All this including thoughts on Human Taget comic books and trade paperbacks and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

Links of Note:
Human Target comic books

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On a personal note I finally finished reading all 27 Volumes of Will Eisner’s Sprit Archives. This includes the Dark Horse volume that was recently released. I started it for my annual Adopt-A-Character podcast that I announce every January. I originally tried to get it all done in 6 months, but it was hard to find the time with family commitments this past summer. I’ll be writing review for the blog soon. It won’t be of every single volume, but will be broken up into segments: Pre-War, War, Post War, The 1950’s, The Dailies (Volume 25), Post-Sundays (Volume 26) and The Dark Horse series (Volume 27). I have not read any of the current DC run, except for the Batman/Spirit, so that won’t be covered, but I hope to start that run very soon. I can tell you that overall it was a great set of books and I’m proud to of achieved this feat. I received a lot of encouragement from all of you the past 12 months and for that I thank you. Come 2010, I’ll start a new series of hardcovers. I’m leaning toward the Iron Man Marvel Masterworks. I read Volume 1 when the first movie came out and now the series is up to 6 volumes. It shouldn’t take me too long to get caught up.

The CCL podcast for this week will be on Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign Premiere Hardcover (Marvel), look for it tomorrow. I also hope to have the latest podcast with John Mayo discussing the sales estimates for September 2009 this week, too. Now on to some links:

• Thanks to Joe over at the FPI Blog for this tidbit that has the internet buzzing like crazy: So who does own the copyright on Marvelman? reported by Pádraig Ó Méalóid.
• Tom Spurgeopn, Comics Reporter, links to the 2009 Stanley Awards.
• Jason Boog, GalleyCat, has the Best Books of 2009, Airport Edition.
• Pamela Mullin, DC Comics The Source, posts the Introduction to Saga Of The Swamp Thing Book 2 by Jamie Delano.
• Interview: Marc-Oliver Frisch, Comiks Debris, talks to George Gene Gustines, New York Times Comics Reporter. Among the many topics, Mr. Gustines talks about the Comics Best-seller Lists.
• ICv2.com has a preview of The Boys Vol. 5: Herogasm TPB (Dynamite Entertainment)
• Media Release: Fantagraphics Books is proud to announce the acquisition of What Is All This?, a 900-page collection of previously uncollected short fiction by two-time National Book Award Nominee (1991, 1995) Stephen Dixon. The collection will be published in May, 2010 and mark the third entry in Fantagraphics burgeoning line of literary fiction, following Alexander Theroux’s Laura Warholic (2007) and Monte Schulz’s This Side of Jordan (2009).
• Also from Fantagraphics is a link to a 25 page .pdf of the soon-to-arrive giant 3-volume Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons. You can also read the introduction by Neil Gaiman.
• Review: Scott Cederlund, Pop Syndicate, on War of Kings HC (Marvel)
• Review: Collected Editions Blog on Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds HC (DC Comics)
• Finally, CEB has their annual Comic Book Holiday Gift Guide 2009. I have to say you can’t go wrong with any of the choices listed.

• Ted Dawson, Three Men In A Tub looks at the exact same Prince Valiant panel from three different reprint editions 1960s Nostalgia Press, 1980s Interpresse/Fantagraphics, and the new 2010 Fantagraphics edition, shot from original engraver’s proofs. Thanks to Tom Spurgeon, Comics Reporter.
• Hermes Press will be publishing Land of the Giants: The Complete Series in January 2010. The 208-page 7.5” x 10” hardcover will be in full color, with printed laminated cover, and dustjacket with endpapers. It will include the five issues of the comic, with art by Silver Age great Tom Gill, essays about the show, behind-the-scenes photos, blue-prints, models, design artwork, and more, $49.99.
• Calvin Reid, Publishers Weekly, talks with Robert Weil, W.W. Norton, on editing The Book of Genesis Illustrated by Robert Crumb.
• Corey Breen, Senior Pre-Press Artist for DC Comics, talks about his process for Cleaning Up The Absolute Watchmen.
• Press Release: Rick Remender’s post-apocalyptic series Strange Girl, will be collected in its entirety on January 13th, 2010 from Image Comics. It will be a four-volume signed slipcase strictly limited to 1000 editions for $49.99.
• Press Release: IDW and ComicMix will be co-publishing The Original Johnson the graphic novel biography of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. Volume 1 is due out this December and Volume 2 will follow 2010. Both trade paperbacks are expected to be $19.99 and 128 pages each.
• In case you missed it: DC Comics Expands Contents For The Creeper By Steve Ditko HC. The books has been expanded to include a never-before-published story originally slated to appear in Showcase #106. The 25-page story, entitled “Enter Dr. Storme,” is written and illustrated by Ditko, and features an appearance by Ditko’s character The Odd Man. It will be printed in black and white. Now increased to 288-pages, this title is on Final Order Cutoff on November 5 and is scheduled to arrive in stores on February 24 at its original cover price of $39.99 US.
• ICv2.com has a 10 page Preview of The Boys Vol. 1: The Name of the Game Limited Edition HC and an 8 page Preview of Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1: The Trial of Sherlock Holmes HC (both are published by Dynamite Entertainment).
• Wizard of Oz Wins 2009 British Book Design and Production Awards. No, not the Eric Shanower/Scottie Young book, but the Graham Rawle one. Who knew?

• In other Books Of The Year news, Publishers Weekly has their Top 10 books for 2009
  • Parker: The Hunter, Darwyn Cooke and Richard Stark (IDW)
  • Driven by Lemons, Josh Cotter (AdHouse)
  • Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou with art by Alecos Papdatos and Annie Di Donna (Bloomsbury)
  • The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders, Emmanuel Guibert and Didier Lefèvre (First Second)
  • Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli (Pantheon)
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni Press)
  • Footnotes in Gaza, Joe Sacco (Metropolitan)
  • A Drifting Life, Yoshihiro Tatsumi (D&Q)
  • You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man, Carol Tyler (Fantagraphics)
  • Pluto, Naoki Urasawa (Viz Media)

• and so does Amazon.com
  • Stitches: A Memoir, David Small (WW Norton)
  • George Sprott: 1894-1975, Seth (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli (Pantheon)
  • All-Star Superman, Vol. 2, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC Comics)
  • The Umbrella Academy: Dallas, Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba (Dark Horse)
  • Locas II: Maggie, Hope & Ray, Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics Books)
  • The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders, Emmanuel Guibert and Didier Lefèvre (First Second)
  • A Drifting Life, Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • The Book of Genesis Illustrated, R. Crumb (WW Norton)
  • Masterpiece Comics, R. Sikoryak (Drawn & Quarterly)

• My friends over at the Collected Editions Blog has some news and opinions on some upcoming DC books including: Wednesday Comics HC, Superboy: The Redemption, Gotham Central Book 3: On The Freak Beat, JSA vs. Kobra, The Shield Vol. 1: Kicking Down the Door, and The Atomic Knights
• And this big news of the week is saved for last: Fantagraphics Announces Six New Golden Age Collections: Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics Of The 1950s (June 2010), Setting The Standard: Alex Toth at Standard Comics 1952-54 (Fall 2010), The Road To Plastic Man: The Golden Age Comics of Jack Cole 1937-41 (TBD), Away From Home: EC Artists at Other Companies (TBD), Creeping Death From Neptune: Basil Wolverton’s Sci-Fi and Horror Comics 1938-55 (TBD), and The Comic Book Frankenstein: The Monster According to Dick Briefer (TBD). This is very welcome material in the wake of Gemstone’s EC line falling behind. Fantagraphics is an excellent company to do a massive project like this and the entire line will be headed by comics historian and editor Greg Sadowski (Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941). These will be welcome additions to my bookshelf.